Save Some Serious Money on Your Spices

Save Some Serious Money on Your Spices

Cooking spices have some powerful mojo.  They're one of the reasons Columbus and all of the other explorers were looking for a shortcut to the Orient.  Wars have been fought over access to them.  Spice trade routes from Europe to Asia were guarded by hundreds of soldiers to ensure the continual flow of spice.  To manipulate a quote from Dune, "Spice must flow".  People have paid small fortunes through the years so they could punch up their bland diets.

And even today, ounce for ounce, they're still extremely expensive if you buy the little bottles in the cooking aisle of your grocery store.  Go to your kitchen cabinet right now and pull out a bottle of cinnamon.  Check the net weight on the front label.  Mine says 2.25 ounces.  And how much did you pay for it?  I think I paid around $5.00 for mine.  Now, do a little math and you'll see that when you buy it in the pre-packaged containers, you're paying the steep price of $35.00 per pound.  You can buy a lobster and a dry aged steak for that price!

And seriously, what are you paying for?  That little shaker bottle and the packaging.  Actual spice prices are cheaper than they've ever been, since long exploratory maritime voyages are no longer necessary.  But the spice cartels are still in place, forcing you to buy prepackaged miniscule amounts for large sums of money.  It doesn't make sense to pay and arm and a leg for spices, since you can get shovelfuls of spices for the same price as a small McCormick's container... if you know where to go.

Now before you buy your spices, you need something to put them in.  Your containers need to be airtight and allow for easy access either through scooping, pouring or shaking.  What I use are these little spice bottles.  The top screws on and off easily, so I can fill them quickly.  One side allows me to shake out just the amount I need, while the other side lets me pour out enough to fill my measuring spoons, or just dump a good deal into the target sauce.   I'll apply a basic label that you'd find at any office supply store and cover it with clear scotch tape to prevent fading.  The best part: they're very economical, a little more than a dollar a piece. Considering the $5.00 you're spending for the cheap plastic bottles that you've been throwing away when the spices are gone, they're great for your wallet and the environment.

There are other options as well.  I've seen people employ a tin system.  They'll pour all the spices into the tins and then either scoop or pinch out just the amount you need.  I've even seen people mount strips of magnetic material in their cabinets so they can have the spices stick to the inside of the door.  Very clever and efficient.  Personally, I like the convenience of the shaker bottles, but these are a completely viable option.

Now, if you're going to be buying any spice, it's better to buy it in bulk.  And a number of grocery stores allow you to do this in either their organic or bulk section.   I will pick mine up and the local Winco Foods, but you can go to any grocery store and do a little searching.  They have a nice variety (pretty much everything I've ever used) and store them all in airtight containers.  This is vital.  The longer the spice is stored in the open air, the less potent they will be. So when you scoop the spices into the bag, make sure you seal them as soon as possible.  When you get home, fill your spice containers and transfer the leftover amounts to labelled ziploc bags.  Store them in your pantry or your storage room downstairs (if you have one).  Make sure to add the spice to your grocery list when your ziploc is empty, not when you empty the container for the last time.  Nothing's worse than running out in the middle of a recipe, which usually means a quick trip to the store, purchasing a small bottle in a pinch and stuffing money into the spice cartel's pocket.


How much can you save buying spices in bulk?  Well, cinnamon at Winco is $4.29... a pound!  That's $31.00 cheaper than a pound of the spice in the little bottles.  True, no one uses a pound of cinnamon at a time, unless you and 75 of your closest friends are trying the Cinnamon Challenge at once (just don't do it..., trust me, it's not worth it).  But if you buy the same amount that's in those prepackaged bottles, 2.25 ounces, that will set you back all of 60 cents.  That's a savings of $4.40.  Let's say you want to make a pumpkin pie and you don't have any cinnamon, nutmeg or cloves.  You could spend $13.00 for the three bottles of spices, or you could by the same amount in the bulk section for $1.85.  It's your choice...

Now there's even a cheaper way to purchase a LARGE amount of spices.  There are a number of companies online offering to sell you spices at discount prices.   I've purchased through the San Francisco Herb Company and have been pleasantly surprised with the results.  The prices are great!  For example, cinnamon is $2.90 a pound.  But beyond that, they have all sorts of other cooking goodies as well, such as teas, botanicals, dried vegetables, scneted oils and even extracts for extremely good prices.  Extracts are notoriously expensive, but the prices here are very reasonable.  And every spice I received from them was high quality and flavored every dish perfectly.


I know you don't want to do buy a pound of cinnamon, because it may take a year or more to use.  But, you can do what I did...  My whole family got together, listed all of the items that they wanted, placed one large combined order and split the cost and spices when they arrived.  I spent $20, the cost of four of those prepackaged bottles at the grocery store, and received 20+ different spices in quantities that lasted over a year.  So if you have a cooking club, relief society group, church group, book club, or any other large organization, get everyone together and place a mass order.  You'll save a ton of money and maybe share some recipes along the way.  


But no matter which road you go down, be it bulk at the store or bulk over the web, avoid the prepackaged bottles.  They're overpriced and downright unnecessary.  Buy large quantities at the lower price, store them in a cool dry place in ziploc bags, and repurchase when the bags are empty.  You'll always have what you need and save enough money to afford a surf and turf dinner a couple of times a  year.